Hands-on garage day, East London. 26th July

[zcacogp]

Bumpitty-bump. Next Saturday. Oli.

 

[PSH]

damn I hadn't seen this and I've just agreed to climb MT Snowdon with my wife and son that weekend too...[] Oh well next time perhaps... Pete

 

[zcacogp]

Alas Pete, our loss. Some other time indeed. Oli.

 

[EddySpaghetti]

Hi Oli, I would have been really up for this, and live nearby in Deptford. Unfortunately I too will be climbing Snowdon this weekend (!), or rather limping up it because I will have climbed Ben Nevis and Scafell Pike before hand - yes, having another go at the three peaks and trying to complete the challenge in less than 24 hours if I can. Pete - maybe see you there - I'll be with a couple of mates in my other car, not the porker. Its an, um, err, Daihatsu Sporktrak[] ( Which I secretly love having bought it off ebay for 400 quid, and not had any problems in 5k of driving). Oli, if you are up for something similar a little later in the year, but before the big freeze sets in then I'd be really interested. I could even potentially host at my place, which is a block of new build flats with a large, offstreet carpark that is weirdly normally empty on weekends. I can claim some expertise in sunroof fettling having sorted mine out last weekend, and have done belts before too. THe smaller jobs I need to do on my turbo are: New front wheel bearings and brake pads Fix the glovebox lid Fit new window scraper seals fit a new clock (am going to bite the bullet and buy second hand) Bleed brakes and clutch Rustproof the sills etc. The bigger jobs (requiring additional funds) are: Install and fit manual boost controller, new wastegate and chips, de-cat pipe. Refurb wheels When I can get the bits for the power upgrade I would be only too happy to share 'before' and 'after' rides with anyone that want to check whether they make a diffrence Cheers, Eddy

 

[PSH]

I too will be climbing Snowdon this weekend

Wow how weird is that?....Eddy I'm not in my car either, taking SWMBO's fiesta, she claims it uses less fuel..lol but to be fair to her she knows I'll only worry about my car if left alone for too long while on long walks. I'm camping at Bryn Gloch and yes I know it's going to rain all weekend but SWMBO wants to go rough... hehe..tent's not been used since Le Mans 2007 so I better make sure it doesn't leak. Oh and I'll be the one on his hands and knees begging to be left alone to die in peace... if your not to far from me we could meet up for a beer one evening, I'm there for 3 nights from Friday. Anyway my mobil number is in my signature, either way hope you have fun mate..oh and good luck[&:] Pete

 

[zcacogp]

Chaps, Please note the new location for the Garage Day. Some large hill, in that small country just to the west of ours. Snow-bum. Or somesuch. So-done. That's it! SNOWDON! Garage day. This coming Saturday. Somewhere on Snowdon ... Oli. (Eddy, no worries. We'll see if this one is a success, and think about another one later on in the year. They're not formal - it's not quite as if you 'offer to host' ... more that you say you will be having one and tell everyone when and where to turn up ... !) Oli.

 

[John Sims]

Regrettably Dearly Beloved is away this weekend (not Snowdon [8|]) so I am kiddie sitting. The probability of making it is not high I'm afraid.

 

[tref]

I should be there. I guess I can strip out my drivers door whilst I am there and play hunt the broken wire prior to soldering it back up. I was going to wait and find a replacement loom. So... if any-one wants to see how easy it is to get to the guts of a 944 S2 door...

 

[zcacogp]

Chaps, Jeckyll and Hyde write-up ... --- Version 1 --- Well I feel like a complete billy no-mates. After everyone showed so much interest in this, by lunchtime the number of 944's parked outside my house was ONE! (And that one was mine!) The number of people who had dropped out was staggering - bar-stewards, the lot of you! One person had shown up by the time lunch was served (James_G), and he doesn't even own a Porsche! James then proceeded to very efficiently apply gallons of rustproofing to the insides of the cills of my S2 and then bleed the brakes (thanks James), leaving me to mourn the lack of other 944's and owners. Tref and Iain and Suzie showed up after lunch, bringing the total number of owners to four, but Iain and Suzie's S sounded like there was a conference of angry rattlesnakes taking place under the cam cover and Tref didn't have the LPG conversion working on his S2. --- Version 2 --- Thanks to everyone that turned up. James, it was great to meet you again, good to work with you on the rustproofing and the brake fluid change. Thanks very much for your hard work, and do let me know how I can return the favour. The brakes are SIGNIFICANTLY much better now (very solid pedal) and the car didn't rust to powder overnight! All the best with your decision on your next car, and you're welcome to future such Garage Days even if you don't go for a Porsche! Tref, good to meet you. That LPG conversion is looking very impressive, and I'm particularly keen to see how it all comes together. The idea of half-price fuel is very appealing, although mounting that tank can't have been an easy job. Sorry we didn't get to the solution of your wiring issue, I hope you solve it soon. Iain and Suzie, thanks for dropping by. Very good to meet you again. And I hope you get to the bottom of that rattle from your engine. Thinking about it, the notion that the cam chain is causing problems seems more and more plausible; if there was something wrong here it could well explain the rattle and the lack of power over 3k rpm; getting the inlet and exhaust cams out of sync can do funny things to the power output, for sure. I hope you find the solution soon. For everyone else, sorry to miss you. It was a good day, the sun shone and I thoroughly enjoyed it! James was doing a Henri Cartier-Bresson impression and will no doubt post up the photos he took. Oli. ETA: Having re-read it, this post sounds a little harsh. I should add that I greatly enjoyed the day and the latter write-up is by far the fairest one!

 

[Suffolk944]

Don't lose heart Oli I think the garage day is a cracking idea - Persevere with it (and apologies once again for being one of the drop outs this time around [&o])

 

[James_G]

As promised, two photos from the day.

Iain, Oli and Tref considering the noise from the top end of the 944 S

Oli's S2 back on its wheels after rustproofing and brake bleeding, Tref's wiring issues still being diagnosed. I echo Oli's comments that it was a shame that more people couldn't make it, but we had of time to use the very excellent Bilt-Hamber cavity wax and get those brakes bled. It was my first time using an Eazi-Bleed kit - a great help, so I'll be buying one myself. As always the hospitality was first rate and it's great to meet some other owners, even though I no longer have a 944. I look forward to the next one!

 

[Copperman05]

Sorry I didnt make it Oli, in the end I was called into work, shame as we live so close and its always good having fellow 944 friends nearby. Hope to meet you sometime soon... Edd

 

[tref]

Thanks for the trouble of organising it and the hospitality Oli, and good to meet all those there. I finished the job today, got rid of the sticky-tape wiring, all nicely soldered and shrink-wrapped back together now, and, central locking back and working as it should! I wouldn't have done it if I hadn't come over, and would have spent and awful lot longer pondering the speaker cover if it hadn't have been for you folks! Best regards, Tref.